Help with our Video Files
We're sorry you're having trouble. We've made an effort to try and make our site available to the most possible users without requiring any additional software, but sometimes some small tweaks are needed, especially for older systems.
On the Website
Clicking the "view episode" link next to any episode will take you to a video viewing page; the video will load directly into your web browser and (depending on your connection speed) the video should start playing soon thereafter.
The Cerealized video files on the website are in an embedded flash player. If for some reason they are not playing properly, please make sure you have a relatively current version of Adobe Flash installed on your computer. The Adobe Flash Website will walk you through upgrading or installing this program if needed.
On your Computer
Clicking the "download" link next to any episode will let you download the video file to your computer so you can watch it whenever you want, by clicking on the file. If you watch episodes many times, we prefer it if you download the file to your computer as it eases the strain on our web server (and the downloaded version is superior quality to the one on the site).
If a Cerealized video file downloaded from the website to your local computer does not play properly on your computer, the easiest solution 99.99% of the time is to install a newer version of "Quicktime" onto your computer. The latest quicktime player for Windows or Macintosh computers is available for free download at www.Quicktime.com. The newest versions of Quicktime for windows are bundled with iTunes, so the site often refers to downloading and installing "iTunes"... don't worry, you're installing the right thing. If you would just like to install Quicktime version 7 without iTunes go here for the standalone installer. Download and install either version of quicktime, and then everything will run just fine. You should not need to even restart your computer.
Need More Info?
Cerealized video files are MPEG-4 files, or MP4 files encoded with the h.264 codec. We chose this format because it provides excellent quality, is playable on all major computer platforms (Mac, Windows, and Linux) and is supported by many popular video podcast readers and devices (such as iTunes, iPod, or Archos Media players).
If you don't like Quicktime, or would rather not upgrade your current version of quicktime, there are still a number of solutions - but they will require you using the "download" method, and special video player software. I highly recommend (and personally use) VideoLan a free open source video player that can read all manner of file types (including MP4). VideoLan (or VLC as it is sometimes called) is available for almost all current operating systems: Windows, Apple OSX, Linux, BSD, as well as embedded, and pocket pc devices. Just download the program and then open a cerealized video file to play it.
If you would prefer to watch Cerealized in your Windows Media Player program (or other DirectShow compatible movie player) you can download the Matroska Pack. This small installer (~3 Megs) will add a number of video codecs ("COmpressor / DECompressor" files) to your computer. This will allow Windows Media Player to play many different types of file formats (including MP4, Xvid, DivX, Matroska...).
Still Stuck?
If absolutely none of the above helps you, feel free to post your situation in the Cerealized Forums. We have lots of tech savy fans who will be happy to help you out, or you can contact us - although we can't guarantee we'll have time to respond to everyone in a timely manner... we do have a show to run!
